Near Miss of the Day 312: Close pass on empty road

scu98rkr wrote:

I know each close pass is dangerous and that oncoming traffic is no excuse, but these ones annoy me the most !!!

I mean why ? the road is empty the driver can see far ahead why not move into the other lane ? why ?

I imagine that they'd registered that the long straight road was empty, so took the opportunity to check their FB... 

Philh68 wrote:

That’s what used to be a one in 5 pass for me, though  since metre passing laws were introduced it's improved to about one in 8. Happens so often it’s just normal driver behaviour. There’s probably no malice, just stupidity. There’s decades of ingrained behaviour from road laws requiring keeping within a lane to overcome, coupled to attitudes that see you as an obstacle not a person. I’m more troubled by those that do it deliberately to intimidate.

Hence the need for better driver education. We've had "Clunk Click every Trip" and "Belt Up" media campaigns, so why not some close passing campaigns explaining the reasons for giving room and the ilegality of not doing so.

iandusud wrote:

Philh68 wrote:

That’s what used to be a one in 5 pass for me, though  since metre passing laws were introduced it's improved to about one in 8. Happens so often it’s just normal driver behaviour. There’s probably no malice, just stupidity. There’s decades of ingrained behaviour from road laws requiring keeping within a lane to overcome, coupled to attitudes that see you as an obstacle not a person. I’m more troubled by those that do it deliberately to intimidate.

Hence the need for better driver education. We've had "Clunk Click every Trip" and "Belt Up" media campaigns, so why not some close passing campaigns explaining the reasons for giving room and the ilegality of not doing so.

Inconvenience decent law-abiding motorists just to help out some bl00dy cyclists who don't even pay road tax? Tut! - are you quite mad?

iandusud wrote:

Hence the need for better driver education. We've had "Clunk Click every Trip" and "Belt Up" media campaigns, so why not some close passing campaigns explaining the reasons for giving room and the ilegality of not doing so.

The govt’s centre for road safety ran an extensive campaign following the introduction of the passing laws called Go Together, which clearly explained the rule changes. There’s been no shortage of publicity. It’s made some difference, but of course being aware of the rules doesn’t mean drivers will change their behaviour. It’s so difficult to enforce that there’s little incentive for compliance.

In the year since they were formally introduced (following a 2 year trial) I have had just one driver comply to the letter of the law, a provisional driver who not only used the opposite lane but correctly indicated the manoeuvre. The majority are giving enough room when passing but not indicating. At best the education campaign has had limited success.

CXR94Di2 wrote:

I know the rider turned left shortly after the pass. Ive found from my personal experience by riding central to carriage way, the driver has to move over the white line, this usually means the driver will fully move over because they no longer accept they can perform the pass whilst staying left of the painted centre line. Ride more central, for me 1-1.5 metres from the kerb

Top advice, and my observations also.  If you ride in the gutter you're just making it easier for some gimp to try and squeeze past, although in this instance there was no need to do it in the first place.

Judge dreadful wrote:

Stupid rather than malicious I think.

Yeah I reckon your right. Most of the close passed that I am on the receiving end of are ignorance rather than malicious.

Judge dreadful wrote:

Stupid rather than malicious I think.

For my sanity I like to think the majority of passes I get like that are as such, there must be a small element that's malicious though